V. Y. Mudimbe

Victor Yves Mudimbe

Vumbi Yoka Mudimbé

"What is the meaning of Africa and being an African? What is and what is not African philosophy? Is philosophy part of Africanism? These are the kinds of fundamental questions that this book addresses. V. Y. Mudimbe argues that the various discourses themselves establish the worlds of thought in which people conceive their identity. Western anthropology and missionaries have introduced distortions not only for outsiders but also for Africans trying to understand themselves. Mudimbe goes beyond the classic issues of African anthropology or history. He says that the book attempts an archeology of African gnosis as a system of knowledge in which major philosophical questions recently have arisen: first, concerning the form, the content, and the style of Africanizing knowledge; second, concerning the status of traditional systems of thought. He is directly concerned with the processes of transformation of different types of knowledge." -- P. 4 of cover.

Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge

The Invention of Africa

..". groundbreaking... clear, straightforward, and economical.... seminal... " -- American Anthropologist "This is a challenging book... a remarkable contribution to African intellectual history." -- International Journal of African Historical Studies "Mudimbe's description of the struggles over Africa's self-invention are vivid and rewarding. From Blyden to Sartre, Temples to Senghor, Mudimbe provides a bold and versatile resume of Africa's literary inventors." -- Village Voice Literary Supplement ..". a landmark achievement in African studies."A -- Journal of Religion in Africa In this unique and provocative book, Zairean philosopher and writer V. Y. Mudimbe addresses the multiple scholarly discourses that exist -- African and non-African -- concerning the meaning of Africa and being African.

Victor Yves Mudimbe

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